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If today was the last day of my life . . .

Steve Jobs:

“When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: “If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you’ll most certainly be right.” It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: “If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?” And whenever the answer has been “No” for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.”

“Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure — these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.”

“Simple can be harder than complex. You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple. But it’s worth it in the end because once you get there, you can move mountains.”

Steve Jobs’ legacy:

“In billions of song downloads, finger swipes and sleek white headphones, Steve Jobs lives on. 300 million iPods sold since 2001, so popular that the very sight of white headphones is now eternally associated with Apple’s products.”

“A man whose vision ended up disrupting almost every creative and commercial industry on Earth”

“He realized what we wanted before we understood it ourselves. We wanted easy to use. We wanted to lose ourselves in what our gadgets did. We wanted sleek, cool, streamlined — things that weren’t always associated with consumer electronics. We wanted the relationship between object fetish and functionality to be indistinguishable. We wanted to touch the future without seams that would yank us out of our communion with our machines. We wanted, in short, intricate simplicity.”

“Steve was never really interested in possessions or money. As a person, his house was bare of furniture: there was only a picture of Einstein and Gandhi, and a lamp and a bed. He was very much a minimalist in many ways. Steve was building a house in Woodside and it was so understated and so simple and so small. He was one of the wealthiest men in the world and he had several bedrooms in the house sharing the same bathroom.”

“Cultivating Apple’s countercultural sensibility and a minimalist design ethic, Jobs rolled out one sensational product after another. He helped change computers from a geeky hobbyist’s obsession to a necessity of modern life at work and home.”

“Steve Jobs will be associated forever with the cultural icons who stepped outside the establishment. The “Think Different” Apple ads feature Dylan and Hitchcock and Picasso and Gandhi and Ali but the understated message is that Steve Jobs lives on that same unique pedestal. The words of that ad could well serve as today’s eulogy to Mr. Jobs:

Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes. They’re not fond of rules and they hold no respect for the status quo…. They push the human race forward…. The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do.

“The beloved, iconic, captivating symbol of the Apple, tiny bite taken, will remind us every day . . that a gentle genius created technology that went so far as to beguile us. Steve Jobs’ mind has blown our collective mind. Rest in peace, Steve, as we fondly and passionately remember your urging us all to “Think Different.”